FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS

The following is a true story: In the first century AD there was a Roman emperor by the name of Nero. He was a musician — a string player.

Nero was not a nice man. One day, there was a big fire in Rome that destroyed a whole section of the city. Nero was told about this and the catastrophic nature of the fire, but he was having a grand time playing his music. He was "fiddling while Rome burned"!

When his henchmen "advisers" asked the emperor who they should hold accountable for this devastation, Nero shrugged his shoulders and told his empty-headed henchmen not to worry, but to go and throw a few Christians to the lions (it was fashionable in those days to blame people from this relatively new "sect" for anything and everything that went wrong). It made such a good sporting spectacle, and such people were dispensable anyway! The Roman Senate eventually declared the emperor a "public enemy". He fled Rome and committed suicide at the age of 30.

Twenty centuries later, in another country — a "civilized" country — another ruler arose. His name was Donald J. Trump. He was a golfer. Trump was not a nice man. One year there was a terrible, catastrophic pandemic ravishing his country. His henchmen told "emperor" Trump about this, and asked who they should hold accountable for the catastrophe. The "emperor" shrugged his shoulders and told his empty-headed henchmen not to worry, but just go to Twitter and tweet nasty, libelous things about how it was all a hoax engendered by his enemies.

Thus, after fuelling and fomenting civil hatred and strife, "emperor" Trump gets into his taxpayer-paid motorcade, grimaces and gives a triumphant thumbs up to his emptyheaded henchmen and goes to play golf. "Emperor" Trump golfs whilst his country dies! We know the ending of the first part of the story, but the ending to this modern version still has to be written. One thing is very certain: whatever the ending, the repercussions will be greatly felt by the neighbour living north of the border. Will the government and people of this country be prepared?

J.C. Gomersall,

Stratford